Mmmm... Science

I love it when the science book says you need a chocolate bar.

One? Really? I got a six pack!

 

Connor was learning about focusing heat with a magnifying glass.

We've all done this a time or two, but never with chocolate.

It was fun watching it melt.

It took him a few tries to get a good focus with the big lens.

Hey look, smoke!

He melted a hole completely through one of the bars.

We missed it with the camera but not our mouths!

We like tasty science.

Last Run

This is not my typical blog post.

I debated about this.

I finally decided that I had to write something.

How could I not?

On Friday, September 4th, we laid my father's body to rest.

This is one of the trucks that escorted my dad for his "final run".

The trucking industry calls this "bob-tailing"

(A long time ago my dad had to explain it to me.)

We had two trucks in the procession.

My dad served in the army for 13 years.

We had Military Funeral Honors.

If you look at the tent you can see the honor guard detail waiting for our arrival.

I can't take credit for all of the photos in this post.

I only took a few.

The cover for the casket.

It turned out really nice.

My dad loved wolves.

No words for this touching photo.

Standing attention.

Dad's name.

Playing of Taps.

I knew the graveside part would be the most difficult part for me.

It was so touching and moving.

Full of honor and respect.

I had never witnessed the folding and presentation of the flag before...

and when I was handed the flag and saluted...

I crumbled.

My dad would have loved it... except for the part that it was for him.

One thing did happen that made me chuckle.

After the ceremony was finished, one of the grandchildren came to me and

congratulated me on getting the flag.

I knew what she meant.

I immediately thought of all the times my dad talked about how kids say the darnedest things.

First Day of School

Last week we started school.

We did one day.

Tuesday we headed to South Bend to clean out my dad's apartment.

We didn't return home until Thursday evening.

This school year will be different.

My dad jokingly called himself our superintendent.

Sometimes he called during school and usually I answered it ;)

The boys knew it was break time when grandpa called.

We've never started school this late in the calendar year.

I'm thankful all of us were able to be together to take care of what needed to be done.

Since we homeschool, we have that luxury.

We'll try school again this week.

I know I'm not really ready to jump into this school year, but I don't want to wait any longer.

Nolan is 13 and in 8th grade this year.

Connor is 10 and tacking 6th grade this year.

Lambchop

It has been a while since I last made a post.

It was mostly due to lack of post-able material..

AKA we haven't done anything too exciting around here.

I was waiting for the start of school or more butterflies to hatch.

Then tragedy hit the family.

I'm not sure when or even if I will make a post regarding it.

I'm only going to say that my father has died and it was at the hands of another.

Honestly, we're still in a state of shock.

~

So in the meantime, I'm posting about our dog.

A tribute to my dad because he asked all the time about what Pepper was up to.

Pepper is quite the character.

Rather frequently she has us laughing.

She has been therapeutic in the midst of our mourning.

This is Lambchop.

Pepper's toy.

It squeaks.

She carries it around.

She flips it in the air.

It has been well loved.

It has a few holes.

One morning we found Pepper with one foot holding the lamb

while she proceeded to un-stuff her beloved toy.

We thought it was the funniest thing.

We needed some laughter that morning.

As I was getting these pictures, I noticed that Lambchop was missing.

We looked all over the yard for it.

It was nowhere to be found.

Eventually we found it in a flower bed.

She had buried it with one foot sticking out.

This had us laughing for several minutes.

It was especially funny because our dear old Rosie had done something similar.

Rosie buried a chicken in the back yard with its feet sticking up out of the ground.

Goofy dogs!